The present invention relates to shutoff-opening devices, for example, for use in fluid control apparatus included in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and more particularly to shutoff-opening devices comprising a plurality of valves, to be provided respectively at the inlet side and at the outlet side of a fluid controller such as a massflow controller and adapted to close or open a plurality of fluid channels.
With fluid control apparatus of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, a plurality of valves are usually arranged at the inlet side and outlet side of a massflow controller. In such arrangements, it is practice to use a shutoff-opening device in the form of a single unit and comprising a plurality of valves removably installed on a blocklike valve mount member from above as arranged in a row without interconnecting the valves with pipes (see JP-A-241400/1994). The inlet and outlet of each of the valves are formed in the bottom of the valve, and the mount member is formed with an inflow channel and outflow channel which are positioned in corresponding relation with the inlet and outlet. The valves are removably installed an the mount member from above so as to be individually inspectable or replaceable after the shutoff-opening device is mounted on a panel.
One fluid control apparatus comprises a multiplicity of shutoff-opening devices. These devices can be variously different in specifications; some devices comprise two or four valves, some valves may be different in the positions of the inlet and outlet in accordance with the interval between the valves, or an inlet-outlet port serving for an inlet or outlet for other fluid may be additionally provided between the inlet and outlet of at least one valve. The conventional shutoff-opening devices have the problem of being not amenable to modifications of specifications since there arises a need to prepare a new valve mount member even if the device differs from other devices in the position of only one outlet.
Further with shutoff-opening devices of the type described, it is important to seal off the joints of the components of the device, that is, to assure the joints of fluid-tightness.